November 19, 2003
Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1979)
Alan Brown
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
(Phone: 661/276-2665)
RELEASE: 03-371
"FASTEST MAN ALIVE" RECALLS 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HISTORIC FLIGHT
On Nov. 20, 1953, shortly before the 50th anniversary of powered
flight, A. Scott Crossfield piloted the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket
research aircraft to Mach 2, twice the speed of sound, and became the
"fastest man alive."
As an aeronautical research pilot at the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS),
now NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Crossfield was in the right
place at the right time 50 years ago.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy were pushing the frontiers of flight,
flying experimental research airplanes from Edwards Air Force Base,
Calif. Higher, faster and farther was the mantra as speed and
altitude records were being set and broken by a cadre of Air Force,
Navy and NACA test pilots.
Although NACA was primarily interested in obtaining data from flight
experiments, the Air Force and Navy had a different agenda. They
maintained a friendly interservice rivalry over reaching the next
major flight milestone. The Air Force had a major coup with the first
supersonic flight by Capt. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager in the Bell X-1
rocket plane just six years earlier. The military services had an
intense interest in being the first to reach Mach 2.
"The Air Force was going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Wright brothers' first powered flight with another Mach number. It
just occurred to us that it would be kind of interesting if we beat
Yeager and the Air Force to Mach 2 in the Navy airplane," Crossfield
recalled. "We were turned down by headquarters, because we didn't do
that kind of thing at NACA. The next thing we knew, NACA director
Hugh L. Dryden sent HSFRS chief Walter C. Williams authorization to
try for one Mach 2 flight," he said. "It was a very friendly
competition. The base was made up of fighter pilots from the top on
down, and they're competitive," Crossfield said.
The Skyrocket was designed for a top speed of about Mach 1.5, but
extensions on the four nozzles of its rocket engine had enabled
Crossfield to reach Mach 1.96 in shallow dives in previous flights.
"It was very close, but it was all the airplane had in it," he said.
The swept-wing research aircraft was carried aloft to the launch
altitude of 32,000 feet by a Boeing P2B-S1 (the Navy designation of
the B-29 Superfortress) "mother ship" early on Nov. 20, 1953.
Dropping clear of the converted bomber, Crossfield ignited the
Skyrocket's rocket engine. He reached 72,000 feet before pushing over
into a shallow dive. The Mach meter gradually crept upward. The
needle finally stopped at Mach 2.005 (1,290 mph), just over twice the
speed of sound.
Crossfield's speed record was short-lived. Less than a month later, on
Dec. 12, 1953, Yeager flew the improved X-1A at Mach 2.44 (1,612
mph). Crossfield's record flight was part of a carefully planned
program of flight research with the Skyrocket. The program featured
incremental increases in speed, while NACA instrumentation recorded
flight data for each segment. Skyrocket No. 144, the craft Crossfield
flew to Mach 2, is enshrined in the National Air and Space Museum in
Washington.
As the Centennial of Flight approaches, Crossfield is still involved
in experimental aviation. As Director of Flight Operations for the
Wright Experience, he is training the pilots who will fly a replica
of the original Wright Flyer during the ceremonial re-enactment of
the first powered flight at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, N.C.
The replica will fly on Dec. 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the
Wright brothers' historic flight.
Photos of the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket and Scott Crossfield,
including several taken the day of the first Mach 2 flight, are
available for downloading on the Internet at:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/D-558-2/index.html
Video footage, including historic flight footage of the Douglas
Skyrocket and portions of a recent interview with Crossfield, are
available by contacting the NASA Dryden public affairs office at:
661/276-3449.
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